Here’s a few job listings from Profectio’s Job Board for March 30, 2010:

SweetHome Editor (1-year contract) – Toronto
Public Relations Internship Opportunity – 12-week, unpaid – Toronto
Multimedia Specialist – Toronto
Manager, Public Relations – Mississauga

Related Stories:

• Communications MECA adds 3 to Montreal and Toronto offices
• Extreme hires Michael Armstrong as new Vice President, Director of Client Services
• Week That Was – 2007-11-23
• Extreme Group expands operations to Toronto
• Hill & Knowlton Canada hires David Jones as Vice President, Digital Communications
• High Road Communications expands in the US and adds a new client
• Eisbrenner Public Relations expands into Canada

Communications MECA announced this week the addition of three new hires to their Toronto and Montreal offices. Suzanne Gold has joined the Toronto office as a Senior Account Executive where she will oversee the patient education and compliance programs for MECA’s healthcare division. Gold previously served as a Communications Specialist at the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal, where she was responsible for media relations and internal communications.

In their Montreal office, Fiona Story has been hired as an Account Executive, and will work on behalf of numerous lifestyle, technology and tourism accounts. She brings with her media, public relations and strategic communications experience from her previous position as National Communications Manager for CauseForce, Inc., overseeing communications efforts for large-scale fundraising events, , The Weekend to End Breast Cancer, The Underwear Affair and The Ride to Conquer Cancer.

Joëlle Langevin has been appointed Account Coordinator for MECA’s Montreal office, and will provide support on various technology, retail and corporate accounts. She previously held the position of Communications Coordinator with CauseForce, Inc. where she coordinated media and public relations initiatives including the Weekend to End Breast Cancer and the Underwear Affair.

Related Stories:

• Latest From The Profectio Job Board – March 30/10
• Week That Was – 2007-01-18
• Extreme hires Michael Armstrong as new Vice President, Director of Client Services
• Week That Was – 2007-11-23
• Extreme Group expands operations to Toronto
• Hill & Knowlton Canada hires David Jones as Vice President, Digital Communications
• High Road Communications expands in the US and adds a new client
• Eisbrenner Public Relations expands into Canada

Extreme Group continues to expand their recently opened Toronto operations with the recent addition of Michael Armstrong as VP, Director of Client Services. Armstrong joins the agency after the addition of several new client accounts and the opening of its Toronto office in November. Prior to joining Extreme, Armstrong spent six years with DraftFCB where he led accounts such as TD Bank Financial Group, Canada Bread and SC Johnson. His agency experience runs from coast-to-coast, having previously worked for Halifax’s Bristol Group, BBDO Canada in Toronto and Vancouver and Leo Burnett in Toronto. Armstrong has worked on a breadth of accounts that span packaged goods, retail, and telecommunications. At Extreme, he will guide and mentor the account service department as well as maintain all senior client relationships.

Related Stories:

• Extreme Group expands operations to Toronto
• Latest From The Profectio Job Board – March 30/10
• Sherway Gardens Website Adds A Touch Of Personal Shopping
• Week That Was – 2008-05-08
• Extreme Group Adds Three More To Toronto Office
• Extreme Group Named Agency of Record for Quiznos
• Week That Was – 2008-01-23
• Week That Was – 2008-10-24
• Extreme Takes Best In Show At ICE Awards
• Week That Was – 2007-01-18

While the US economy is still getting hit with bad mortgages and plagued with George Bush still in the office up here in Canuck land business is still booming, hiring is still on an upward spike, advertising dollars are still being spent and of course this leads to the cycle where companies are being purchased. The latest is Daren Trousdell’s Toronto-based agency, Mindblossom which he founded in 2001 and took revenues to approximately $10 million and a client roster that includes Home Depot, Mitsubishi Motors, Sirius Satellite Radio, Citibank and eBay. Mindblossom was sold to Aegis Media for an undisclosed amount and represents the second purchase for Aegis Media, their other recent purchase was Genesis Media, an independent media communications firm.

Who said there isn’t any money in being socially responsible? Last week Edelman’s Toronto office announced the launch of “Goodpurpose”, the public relation agency’s new business unit to help brands position them self around social causes. Part of the offering will be advice and strategy on marketing, digital activities, research and corporate social responsibility. Vice President of Consumer Technology, Lisa Kimmel commented, “We see a new phenomenon emerging where consumers and the brands they interact with every day take a mutual interest in and a mutual responsibility for being good citizens, it’s a natural fusion of corporate social responsibility and traditional cause-related marketing. Consumers are seeking a more personal, co-creative role in everything from product development to brand marketing.”

Here are some of the other industry stories and news that we talked about in this edition of The Week That Was.

Headlines:

Toronto Tech Week 2008 – September 22 – 26, 2008

MTS Mobility plays seek and find with new location based services for mobile customers

Are blogs killing print publications? I expressed my concern that many traditional reporters tend to be lazy and not dig for the stories, reader Peter Dawson commented in disagreeing with me saying “just that they have a lot of red tape to deal with- which story, when kinda thing.. and by the time a decision is made – some blogger has already posted a tidbit somewhere.. so there’s no story left to tell !!”   I agree with him on one hand, but it still makes me feel that launching this site was the right direction, especially when I look at some of the stories that have been covered and in no other traditional publication, so maybe I am doing something right.  I’m also very excited to the new opportunities that 2008 will bring and how to take Profectio its next phase of business.

Mvive launches new mobile conversion platform

On The Move:

Jarrod Banadyga hired as new copywriter for DDB Canada’s Vancouver office

Rebecca Muller joins Wildfire Strategic Marketing as Director of Client Service

Deal Flow:

Vancouver-based Raincity Studies, a web design and development shop has purchased long time partner Bryght for an undisclosed amount. Bryght has been very active in the Drupal-based CMS market place in Canada. Combined the two have collaborated on 100+ projects over the years so the acquisition is the next natural step in their business relationship. Raincity also plans to open an office in Shanghai, China.

Upcoming Events: Toronto Tech Talk – November 28, 2007

Related Stories:

• Who’s Who In Social Media Report – November 07
• Week That Was – 2007-12-21
• Blackberry Gets Ready To Launch Twitter Client, Want To Be A Beta Tester?
• Top Stories for Feb 11 – 15
• DDB Canada Vancouver promotes Nora Ahern to VP Group Business Director
• Week That Was – 2007-12-14
• Rebecca Muller joins Wildfire Strategic Marketing as Director of Client Service
• Dear Facebook, Here Is The Number One Reason Why You Will Not Be The Biggest Social Network On Earth
• Harris Interactive: Gay And Lesbian Adults More Likely To Be Most Loyal And Heavy Blog Readers
• HootSuite Adds A Dash Of Social CRM

Halifax-based Extreme Group has expanded the company’s operations with a new office in Toronto, where CEO Paul LeBlanc has now relocated to head up the operations.

“This is an exciting time for us,” said LeBlanc. “Both offices are growing together, with a continued focus on what makes our approach unique – our people, work and results.”

Extreme Group played host to last night’s 2007 Strategy Agency of the Year Awards tonight in Toronto, at The Docks, company President Andrew Doyle and Creative Director Shawn King were also on hand.
2007 Strategy Agency of the Year Awards tonight in Toronto, at The Docks.

Related Stories:

• Extreme hires Michael Armstrong as new Vice President, Director of Client Services
• Latest From The Profectio Job Board – March 30/10
• Sherway Gardens Website Adds A Touch Of Personal Shopping
• Week That Was – 2008-05-08
• Extreme Group Adds Three More To Toronto Office
• Extreme Group Named Agency of Record for Quiznos
• Week That Was – 2008-01-23
• Week That Was – 2008-10-24
• Extreme Takes Best In Show At ICE Awards
• Week That Was – 2007-01-18

Hill & Knowlton Canada has hired David Jones to join the team as their new Vice President, Digital Communications where according to the company a blog post written by Brendan Hodgson “he will be working with me, the digital team, and our digital champions across the network to further grow our integrated offering.” Prior to H & K David was Senior Vice-President with Fleishman-Hillard Toronto since 2006.

Related Stories:

• Latest From The Profectio Job Board – March 30/10
• Communications MECA adds 3 to Montreal and Toronto offices
• Extreme hires Michael Armstrong as new Vice President, Director of Client Services
• Week That Was – 2007-11-23
• Extreme Group expands operations to Toronto
• High Road Communications expands in the US and adds a new client
• Eisbrenner Public Relations expands into Canada

High Road Communications recently won the business of DataJungle Software which is a provider of next generation “on-demand”, self-service business intelligence (BI) software. DataJungle also added some new members to the company’s senior management team including Craig Harper as CTO and Robert Lendvai Named Chief Marketing Officer.

“With deep media and industry analyst relationships, we are confident that High Road will be a key strategic partner for us,” said Robert Lendvai, Chief Marketing Officer, DataJungle. “The High Road team not only provides senior strategic guidance and creativity, but also shares our deep passion for technology and innovation.”

This announcement is part of High Road Communication’s expansion into the United States according to Martin Hoffman as he states on the company blog, “Over the past decade, we’ve expanded our offices to better respond to our client needs. Our teams have grown from their Ottawa and Toronto roots to the east in Montreal and the west in Vancouver. Now, we’re heading to the south. Well south, then west. Today, I’m happy to report that our new office in San Francisco is up and running.”

Related Stories:

• Latest From The Profectio Job Board – March 30/10
• Communications MECA adds 3 to Montreal and Toronto offices
• Extreme hires Michael Armstrong as new Vice President, Director of Client Services
• Week That Was – 2007-11-23
• Extreme Group expands operations to Toronto
• Hill & Knowlton Canada hires David Jones as Vice President, Digital Communications
• Eisbrenner Public Relations expands into Canada

Michagan-based Eisbrenner Public Relations is expanding their practice into Canada through their worldwide network called IPREX. Here in Canada, Hedlin Lauder Communications, based in Calgary and Peak Communicators Ltd., based in Vancouver have been added to IPREX. Eisbrenner Public Relations was founded by Tom Eisbrenner in 1983 and the network connects to 60 independent public relations firms in more than 70 cities around the world. Scheibel Halaska, Inc. out of Milwaukee was also added to the IPREX network.

Related Stories:

• Latest From The Profectio Job Board – March 30/10
• Communications MECA adds 3 to Montreal and Toronto offices
• Extreme hires Michael Armstrong as new Vice President, Director of Client Services
• Week That Was – 2007-11-23
• Extreme Group expands operations to Toronto
• Hill & Knowlton Canada hires David Jones as Vice President, Digital Communications
• High Road Communications expands in the US and adds a new client